Contraband Gold, Gold Smuggling

[treasurediver]

Several of these Portuguese ships were captured by "The pirates of Sale". One of these ships sank in a storm, near Sale, actually wrecked on the coast of the island in front of Sale.

All in all, only a very small percentage of these treasure galleons got lost, but one of the largest diamonds ever found, "as big as a fist", never made it to Portugal.

The actual number of diamonds shipped is difficult to know. A good part of the diamonds was shipped to India and then arrived as Indian diamonds on the market.

 

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[sphillips]

Fascinating thread!

 

[Crow]

And thing to consider gold smuggling never stopped?

It still happens today in many places in the world for various reasons.

Take the following case ( Was they smuggling or not smuggling?)

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao 2012 (AP) — Masked men in jackets emblazoned with the word "police" boarded a fishing boat Friday in Curacao and stole 70 gold bars worth an estimated $11.5 million, officials on the southern Caribbean island said.

( Alarm bell should be rining? What the hell 11 million in gold being transported and the owner too stingy to have security? It does not add up?)

The boat's captain was struck in the head in the early-morning assault before the thieves made off with the gold in three cars, police spokesman Reggie Huggins said. Authorities believe there were at least six men involved in the heist. No suspects were in custody. ( clearly it was planned attack some one knew of the shipment?)

Huggins declined to say who owned the approximately 476 pounds of gold but he said it was a legal shipment that was being trans-shipped through Curacao and officials in the island had been advised in advance that it was coming as part of normal security protocols. He declined to disclose the eventual destination of the metal. ( ha ha ha pull the other one!)

"Authorities knew of the shipment because the official procedure was followed," the spokesman said.

Huggins said that guards to the port area let the assailants inside a restricted area in the mistaken belief that they were customs officials. The men's jackets had the word "police" in English but in Curacao the word would be written in Papiamento, one of the island's three official languages, as "polis." During the robbery, crew members said they wore hoods and masks and made off with the gold in a matter of minutes.

"The crew said it was like a movie operation, very fast," Huggins said.

The captain and three crew members were from the South American country of Guyana, he said.
( Makes me wonder if captain and crew planed to steal the gold themselves and claim it was stolen? )

The boat, by its appearance, would seem an unlikely place to stash that amount of gold. The "Summer Bliss" is a fishing boat with rust streaks on its white cabin and no visible security.

A crew member who gave his name as Raymond Emmanuel told The Associated Press that they left Guyana four days ago and arrived early Friday in Curacao. Contradicting police, he said they were delivering the gold to a company in Curacao but said he did not know the name of the business.

( sound dodgy to me?)

He referred questions about the source of the gold to the captain, who was meeting with authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island and not immediately available.

Emmanuel said the gold was locked away when the thieves boarded the vessel. "They took everything," he said. ( It is clear it was inside job?)

The crew member said neither he nor anyone else on the vessel was armed. "This is normal," he said. "We never carry arms. Since I started working here, I've transported gold once before, and this is the system." ( Some thing does not sound right?)

Colin Sparman, executive secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, said legal shipments are typically made by air under heavy security. ( So why was 11 million of gold was placed on a crappy rust old ex trawler? With zero security?)

Curacao, just north of Venezuela, is primarily known as tourist destination, particularly for divers. It is also an offshore financial center, especially for people from South America.

This is just one case. How much is smuggle globally today unnoticed?

Crow

 

[Blak bart]

And thing to consider gold smuggling never stopped?

It still happens today in many places in the world for various reasons.

Take the following case ( Was they smuggling or not smuggling?)

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao 2012 (AP) — Masked men in jackets emblazoned with the word "police" boarded a fishing boat Friday in Curacao and stole 70 gold bars worth an estimated $11.5 million, officials on the southern Caribbean island said.

( Alarm bell should be rining? What the hell 11 million in gold being transported and the owner two stingy to have security? It does not add up?)

View attachment 2137918

The boat's captain was struck in the head in the early-morning assault before the thieves made off with the gold in three cars, police spokesman Reggie Huggins said. Authorities believe there were at least six men involved in the heist. No suspects were in custody. ( clearly it was planned attack some one knew of the shipment?)

Huggins declined to say who owned the approximately 476 pounds of gold but he said it was a legal shipment that was being trans-shipped through Curacao and officials in the island had been advised in advance that it was coming as part of normal security protocols. He declined to disclose the eventual destination of the metal. ( ha ha ha pull the other one!)

View attachment 2137919

"Authorities knew of the shipment because the official procedure was followed," the spokesman said.

Huggins said that guards to the port area let the assailants inside a restricted area in the mistaken belief that they were customs officials. The men's jackets had the word "police" in English but in Curacao the word would be written in Papiamento, one of the island's three official languages, as "polis." During the robbery, crew members said they wore hoods and masks and made off with the gold in a matter of minutes.

"The crew said it was like a movie operation, very fast," Huggins said.

The captain and three crew members were from the South American country of Guyana, he said.
( Makes me wonder if captain and crew planed to steal the gold themselves and claim it was stolen? )

The boat, by its appearance, would seem an unlikely place to stash that amount of gold. The "Summer Bliss" is a fishing boat with rust streaks on its white cabin and no visible security.

A crew member who gave his name as Raymond Emmanuel told The Associated Press that they left Guyana four days ago and arrived early Friday in Curacao. Contradicting police, he said they were delivering the gold to a company in Curacao but said he did not know the name of the business.

( sound dodgy to me?)

He referred questions about the source of the gold to the captain, who was meeting with authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island and not immediately available.

Emmanuel said the gold was locked away when the thieves boarded the vessel. "They took everything," he said. ( It is clear it was inside job?)

The crew member said neither he nor anyone else on the vessel was armed. "This is normal," he said. "We never carry arms. Since I started working here, I've transported gold once before, and this is the system." ( Some thing does not sound right?)

Colin Sparman, executive secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, said legal shipments are typically made by air under heavy security. ( So why was 11 million of gold was placed on a crappy rust old ex trawler? With zero security?)

Curacao, just north of Venezuela, is primarily known as tourist destination, particularly for divers. It is also an offshore financial center, especially for people from South America.

This is just one case. How much is smuggle globally today unnoticed?

Crow

Those pesky fishermen !! Pick away they do....don't they !! Its like I've said....the lowly fishermen always seem to have there fingers in the gold !! Somehow, someway, they get involved. How many other boats do the same ? How many other "fishermen" have similar operations ? Fishermen have patience, and the ability to wait out the big fish.....sooner or later they get a bite from the big one.

 

[Magoopeter]

Rich gold mines were discovered in Brazil in the 17th century, Brazil was at that time part of the Portuguese Empire. In the 18th century, imports of Brazilian gold to Portugal surpassed the total that the Portuguese had ever obtained from the colonies in Mina and Guinea in West Africa, and even surpassed that of which the Spanish had obtained annually from its American colonies in the sixteenth century. By the second decade of the eighteenth century, Brazilian gold far surpassed all those sources combined. Officially, 800 metric tons of gold were sent to Portugal in the 18th century. Inevitably some of that gold was lost in shipwrecks. Also, in the 18th Century Every British ship of war returning home at the end of a Patrol called at Lisbon to load gold for England. England’s wealth was built on gold from Lisbon.

The Gold went to England, due to the negative trade balance of Portugal with England, aggravated by the Treaty of Methuen (1703). An estimated that one to two thirds of the gold mined in Brazil flowed to England in the first half of the eighteenth century. Indeed, as an abundance of Brazilian gold entered England, after briefly passing through Lisbon, it favoured the banking and financial industry of England. HMS Victory carried £200,000 in gold when it sunk. The Dutch published the HMS Victory gold cargo, in a gazette, that was a financial paper, that recorded gold shipments arriving and fromcomming from Lisbon.

The Brish Navy ships carried gold weekly to Falmouth from Lisbon, along with the Lisbon to Falmouth packet ship. Wonder how many Lisbon gold shipments were lost.

The Loss of the Packet Ship Hanover | NMMC

This month's Bartlett Blog tells the story of the wreck of the packet ship Hanover, the attempted salvage of the 'treasure', and the legal case that followed.

nmmc.co.uk

 

[Tanneyhill]

Hello,

what´s going on in the Royal Africa Company ships between 1660-1752 ? These ships bring the gold nugget from Guinea and the Goldcoast back to England. The London Mint House stamped from this gold the Guinea gold coins. The RAC have the monopol of the gold trade from the westcoast of Africa.

-How many ships from the RAC were wrecked or lost ?
-How many contrabant/smuggling gold was on board of each ship back to England ?

Interesting thread. I enjoyed the material shared by everyone.

English Mint Guinea gold coins. 😍
Portuguese Rio Mint gold coins. 😍

Any stories of ships carrying such cargo or resources to get me started researching in this direction. I am reading a couple of Boxer's books on Portugal's Brazil empire.

Lisbon to England route is certainly a subject to investigate given the flow of gold. Of course Sovereign ships we run into UNSECO. Merchant ships could be interesting, especially if insurance claims were paid out.

Rare coins is my obsession. Beautiful Rio Mint coin Blak Bart.

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

Great thread..... I love hearing about smuggled Gold & Stones..... Especially actual recoveries...

 

[Crow]

Great thread..... I love hearing about smuggled Gold & Stones..... Especially actual recoveries...
View attachment 2142439

Trouble is amigo

For Many stories cannot be told in fear of retribution by the parties involved and or fear of punitive action by the powers to be.

To walk in the footsteps of them is entering shadowy world of tax havens. transnational crime and powerful people you will never here of. For they do not seek publicity. Discovery is to be disowned and speak up is truly the kiss of death.

Crow

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

Trouble is amigo

For Many stories cannot be told in fear of retribution by the parties involved and or fear of punitive action by the powers to be.

To walk in the footsteps of them is entering shadowy world of tax havens. transnational crime and powerful people you will never here of. For they do not seek publicity. Discovery is to be disowned and speak up is truly the kiss of death.

Crow

I know that... Let me clarify a little. I meant to say, shipping manifests compared to what was actually found on the Galleons and treasure ships of the past. And the private businessman etc and their ships of the past... Diamonds etc are much easier to move and sell.

 

[Crow]

I got told once years ago smuggling was rife of these vessels. The captain and officers had side hustles as various merchants would pay them to items back to Spain. Especially the peninsular Spanish. Many came to the colonies to make their fortunes and return home. Usually with goods that would be be taxed in some form by the crown.

At the end of Spanish colonial rule Peninsular Spanish families shipped millions of dollars worth of treasure out of South America by the Royal Navy. Visiting British Admiralty was alarmed to discover naval captains had a side hustle taking goods back to Spain in their navy vessels. making huge profits. Some vessels was shipping out of their vessel million plus.

Crow

 

[Crow]

After the fall of Lima private merchants shipped out fortunes in contraband. St Patrick, Lord Lyndock, Betsy, Rebecca, Peruvian are just some that I can recall off the top of my head. There are others.

In 1821, Samuel Stephenson, great great grandfather to Pamela Stephenson went out to sail his ship the "Rosalie" east towards the Spice Islands. The ship went down and to this day, no record of any living person or object has been found. A year before that the Rosalie was the south America Coast.

Captain Stephenson Pamela Stevenson's ancestor. She is wife of Billy Connelly Scottish comedian. Some years ago she commission some one here who used to post here on treasurenet to search for the shipwreck. of the east coast of Lombock.

The Rebecca was reported sank off the bay of Biscay. the crew was rescued and the mate and Captain was missing.

Between 1815 and 1825 about 10- 15 million dollars a 1821 value was bled out of south America during the war of independence and aftermath.

Crow

 

[Crow]

That said there was another vessel a Italian vessel wrecked off Pisco Peru engaged in smuggling. silver was smuggled out through Pisco for years. That said of the total output of what was officially shipped out back to Spain another 3rd was most likely smuggled out.

Crow

 

[Crow]

Gold and silver production had fallen so much by the end of 18th century to a trickle.

The treasure fleet system finally ended completely in 1778. The manila galleon trade had officially finished by 1815 with Magellenes being the official last manila galleon. But this did not stop private vessels under license of the vice royalty to conduct voyages.

Crow

 

[Tanneyhill]

C.R.Boxer: Brazilian Gold and British Traders in the first half of the eigtheenth century

Page 467:
-Between March 25., 1740 and June 8., 1741 the Falmouth packet service boats carried Brazilian gold to a total of 447,347 Pounds
-while in the calender year 1759: 787,290 Pounds and 1760 :1,085,559 Pounds

Page 470:
_the fleets from Rio and Bahia were naturally the richest, but those from Pernambuco and Para usually had some gold on board and often considerable amounts

Page 471:
-After 1761 shipments of Brazilian gold to Portugal fell off markedly
-The figures for the gold imported into Falmouth from Lisbon by the packet service boats are extant for the years 1761-1769.They show that nearly a million in sterling was remitted in each of the last four years and exceptional sum of 1,186,714 Pounds in 1764


Page 469:
-as late as 1770, when the production of Brazilian gold was decline

How many ship were wrecked or lost on this trading routes between Lisbon and Falmouth/London ?

From CR Boxer - Portuguese Seaborne Empire, page 220

-Home bound Indiamen often called at ports in Brazil, especially in the Bay of All Saints and especially after the Minas Gerais gold discovery.
-Good deal of illegal trade - Brazilian gold for Eastern goods

These Indiamen often reached Bahia in a battered condition which justified a stay of some weeks, but their sojourn in the Bay of All Saints was invariably accompanied by the intensive and illegal exchange of Oriental goods for Brazilian gold and tobacco. All efforts to stop this flourishing contraband trade failed, because the military guards placed on board the visiting ships in order to prevent smuggling ‘are those who most shamelessly and scandalously smuggle the goods ashore from the Indiamen and foreign ships’, as the Viceroy at Bahia reported to the Crown in March 1718. Forty years later an official report stated that Chinese porcelain was the Asian commodity which was in most demand and fetched the best prices ashore, but large quantities of Indian piece-goods and even (on occasion) diamonds were likewise imported in this way. After refitting at Bahia the Indiamen then sailed for Lisbon in the convoy of the homeward- bound sugar-fleet, the organisation of which dated from the mid-seventeenth century.

From CR Boxer - Portuguese Seaborne Empire, page 246

-renegade friars were smuggling gold from the mining areas of Minas Gerais.

The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Padroado was never effec tively challenged in Portuguese (Upper) Guinea or in the Cape Verde Islands, and still less in Portuguese America, as we have seen (p. 234 above). The extent to which King John V, usually regarded as the monarch most subservient to the Holy See, was prepared to push his rights as Padroeiro in Brazil was exemplified by his adamant refusal to allow any of the religious Orders to establish themselves in Minas Gerais. This policy was originally adopted on the grounds that renegade friars were smuggling gold from the mining areas.